Lionel Messi is still only 25, so we should have many more years to appreciate
how blessed we are to have him

Sports fans often find it hard to accept greatness when it is thrust upon them. There is always the temptation to resort to historical comparison, to argue that those competing on uncovered pitches, or with wooden rackets, would have wiped the floor with today’s players. Sometimes, however, you have to accept the simple evidence of your eyes. Just as there has never been a better British cyclist than Bradley Wiggins, or a better Olympics than London 2012, so Lionel Messi is a footballer for the ages. In scoring 86 goals (and counting) in a calendar year, he has beaten a record set in 1972 by Gerd Müller. Yet unlike the great German striker, Messi is – to paraphrase Ed Miliband – both producer and predator, armed with sublime grace and creativity as well as a killer instinct. And he is still only 25, so we should have many more years to appreciate how blessed we are to have him.